NHL Three Stars: Predators put Blues on the brink; Rangers easily down Senators

The netminder continued to be outstanding for the Predators collecting his seventh win (and only one loss) of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Rinne made 32 saves as the Preds beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1. Nashville heads back to St. Louis with an opportunity to close out the series.

No. 2 Star: Mats Zuccarello, New York Rangers

The Rangers thoroughly controlled the Ottawa Senators in Game 3. Zuccarello scored the opening goal of the game and followed it up with assisting on Michael Grabner’s tally to put New York up by two. Rangers win 4-1 and draw within a game of the Sens in the series.

No. 3 Star: Ryan Ellis, Nashville Predators

The score was locked at 0-0 going into the third period. While on the power play, Ellis comes flying in and blasts a loose puck past the seemingly unstoppable Jake Allen. The defenseman now has nine points in eight games, and is on a seven game point scoring streak.

Honorable Mention: Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored the lone goal for the Sens, making it five goals in two games. Rick Nash and Oscar Lindberg also scored for New York. Henrik Lundqvist had 26 saves in the win … James Neal netted the eventual game winner for the Preds. Joel Edmundson’s tally with less than four minutes to go was too little, too late. Jake Allen was no slouch for the Blues. He shut the Preds out until midway through the third period with some spectacular saves.

Did You Know? Ryan Ellis is the first defenseman with a seven-game point streak in the playoffs since Chris Pronger and Jason Woolley in 1998, @PR_NHL.

Dishonorable Mention: Rough night for all the Senators. Zach Smith left the game after 1:50 TOI with an upper body injury. He did not return. Dion Phaneuf had a particularly ungraceful moment when he gets shot by an invisible sniper in the rafters (or something).

… P.K. Subban was given an embellishment minor for his involvement in Joel Edmundson attempting to hit him in the head. Edmundson did not receive a penalty on the play.